Last summer I had the opportunity to see the Snowbirds perform twice in the same week but at 2 different locations. In general it seemed that the plane to my right would be closest to me most of the time & I got lucky timing wise on 1 pass at the second show.

Greyswan, Both of my photos were shot at Wings over Gatineau but this year that was right after the show at Trenton (QIAS) which I also attended. That was where I realized I needed to pan with the one coming from my right. It doesn't work for every crossover but it does more often than not. Now I'll need to see & learn the routine the Partouille De France uses for their visit in April.

A skill is developed through constant practice with a passion to improve, not bought.

cicopo wrote in post #18305816Greyswan, Both of my photos were shot at Wings over Gatineau but this year that was right after the show at Trenton (QIAS) which I also attended. That was where I realized I needed to pan with the one coming from my right. It doesn't work for every crossover but it does more often than not. Now I'll need to see & learn the routine the Partouille De France uses for their visit in April.

I didn't know about Gatineau, I'll have to try and get to that one. The QIAS was the first time I've done aircraft (birding is my thing) but I wanted to try it to expand my horizons. The crossovers were really difficult to catch at the right moment, a real challenge - I always missed the crucial frame Unfortunately many of the air shows are too far away to manage for me, so I don't get much practice.

Vintage Wings of Canada is located at the Gatineau Executive Airport & because it's Canada's 150 Birthday they will have both the Snowbirds & the Patrouille De France performing as well as some of their own aircraft. They haven't released the full details yet but they have a Facebook Page worth checking out. This will be the only performance in Canada for the French Team. What I have learned to do when shooting the cross overs is to shoot with both eyes open & start firing when the plane in the viewfinder starts to bank. It doesn't always work out though because sometimes it banks too early & you fill the buffer & sometimes it's late & has actually passed the other planes path.

A skill is developed through constant practice with a passion to improve, not bought.

YEP! I missed it on Fridays practice run so all day saturday thats all i thought about. Lol Caught both sneak passes, but since they went to the mid show they have 3, 2 from the left and 1 from the right. I was chimping at my shot and here he comes full burner from the right, scared the hell outta me.

greyswan wrote in post #18305885I didn't know about Gatineau, I'll have to try and get to that one. The QIAS was the first time I've done aircraft (birding is my thing) but I wanted to try it to expand my horizons. The crossovers were really difficult to catch at the right moment, a real challenge - I always missed the crucial frame Unfortunately many of the air shows are too far away to manage for me, so I don't get much practice.

Cheers, Chris.

The trick for getting the cross over is to keep both eyes open. This works best if you use your right eye for the VF and are panning from right to left. For the Red Arrows, and I would think the Snowbirds and the French teams will be similar, since they are all using trainers, I usually start a three shot burst as the left to right ship comes into full view, although it hitting the peripheral vision tends to trigger the action for me. This usually gives me the second frame with some level of overlap of the two aircraft.

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